Do you measure your results?
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Many CVs are weak because there are no hard facts or evidence that shows the quality of results achieved in a role. This is why we always emphasise the importance of measuring the impact of the work that you do, so that you have hard data at your fingertips at all times. Results don’t always have to be numeric (although it’s often good if they are) but it’s important that you’ve thought about the evidence that makes it clear that you’ve done a good job.
Ask yourself, which sounds more impressive? “I just finished delivering x project and it’s been really well-received” or “I just completed a 150k project, four weeks ahead of schedule – and I’ve just had some great news, the first month’s results are in and showing x and y impact on the business!”?
You see, taking the time to measure your personal results gives you something that you can drop into conversation easily. For example, you could say “I’m really enjoying work right now, I’ve sold twice as much as by this stage last year” or, at interviews “8 out of the 10 recommendations in my last presentation were adopted by the Board”.
What’s the approach you need to take?
Measuring your results can appear to be difficult or time-consuming, which is why most people don’t bother to do it. However, the payback is huge – it really makes you stand out to senior managers, and ensures your talents aren’t overlooked. Invest in your career by being one of the few who collect evidence of the positive contribution they are making.
Ask yourself, which sounds more impressive? “I just finished delivering x project and it’s been really well-received” or “I just completed a 150k project, four weeks ahead of schedule – and I’ve just had some great news, the first month’s results are in and showing x and y impact on the business!”?
You see, taking the time to measure your personal results gives you something that you can drop into conversation easily. For example, you could say “I’m really enjoying work right now, I’ve sold twice as much as by this stage last year” or, at interviews “8 out of the 10 recommendations in my last presentation were adopted by the Board”.
What’s the approach you need to take?
- Start by asking – How will I know that I’ve done a great job?
Before you start any new project or piece of work, ask yourself that question. If this is successful, what is the impact it will have? It could be that something is saved (time or money or scrap) or something is averted (risk, problems). It could be the impact on an external or internal customer (sorting out an issue that would have affected 10% of our customers, reducing a backlog of work so customers get a quicker response, experiencing an uptick in satisfaction ratings). Or it could be about gaining something (sales, customers, referrals, or improving profitability). Or it might be a positive reaction (like an email from your Director thanking you, or an employee award). - What do you measure already?
Sometimes we feel like we have a good reason for not measuring, for example, “I think it’s going to be difficult” or “I don’t have the time”. If that’s familiar, the easiest place to begin is to look at what information is already provided to you – management information, KPIs, performance data, engagement scores etc. Ask yourself, is there any data already being collected, that you can make use of? If not, you might have to bite the bullet and put some effort in to develop your skills in measuring and assessing impact. Find people who are great at this, and ask what they’d suggest. Or treat it as a challenge and get friends or your team involved. It’s worth it for the impression it makes. This is also the same skill you will need if you ever want to enter for a sector award – to build an external reputation. For example, with one client we took the time to design and send out questionnaires asking participants in to assess how much their skills and knowledge had increased from before a workshop to 3 months afterwards – with great results! This crucial data was key to our client winning more than one award, and gave us great marketing information for future clients. - Reward people who help you
Often you will need other people’s help to evaluate and create results. When asking for that help, find ways of ensuring that other people get something out of it too. Could you offer to share the finalised data with them? Could you add their research into yours to help them? Are there papers or other information you could share with them to say thank you? - Using the data well
Once you’ve gathered the data, it’s important to use it well and present it convincingly. If you’ve eliminated a weekly report that used to take a day to produce due to automation, that is better presented as 20% (or a fifth) of your time saved, or 0.2 of an FTE, or – if someone was paid 20k a year (which probably means 30k with on-costs), you have saved approaching £6k per year. Even better, multi-layer the explanation – in this example, it wasn’t just the saving of time and costs, you also improved efficiency, developed an innovative reporting format that others have adopted, and probably received some very positive feedback.
Measuring your results can appear to be difficult or time-consuming, which is why most people don’t bother to do it. However, the payback is huge – it really makes you stand out to senior managers, and ensures your talents aren’t overlooked. Invest in your career by being one of the few who collect evidence of the positive contribution they are making.